Have you heard of the primal scream? It was a popular therapy in the late 1960s and 70s, a kind of controlled catharsis using sound – the human voice – in which patients would “get it all out” by screaming and shouting in order to rid themselves of their depression and anger. Ultimately, this technique proved ineffective, yet there’s much evidence that sound is a powerful tool for healing body, heart, mind, and spirit.
Sound is all about connection. It dissolves separateness and connects everything. It connects us to ourselves. It connects us to others. It connects us to the earth. It connects us to the Universe. It connects us to the Divine Creator.
Sound therapy – the therapeutic use of vibratory instruments, such as singing bowls and gongs, has been around since the beginning of recorded history and has been practiced by most ancient cultures, particularly in the east. The contemporary western world is just awakening to the healing power of vibratory sound.
The practice of sound therapy has been shown to re-balance and recharge the flow of vital life force energy, to help us feel more relaxed, centered, and alive. Modern acoustic researchers have discovered that sound waves can positively impact our nervous system and decrease blood pressure more than any other form of meditation. Vibratory sound is known to create change on the cellular level to reduce stress, improve concentration, balance the emotions, treat insomnia, boost the immune system, quiet mind chatter, and promote a deep sense of peace, well-being, and better health.
How does sound heal? We are not a solid mass. We’re vibrating energy. We vibrate at different frequencies in all levels of our being and receive sound through every cell of our body. Sound penetrates our body and realigns our own internal frequencies to transform deep waves of energy and emotions.
Emotions are waves of energy. The way we feel is based on how we interpret these internal waves. Sound changes the emotional memory in our cells and raises our emotional vibrations. As we allow sound to enter our body, we allow it to stabilize our emotions and our being. As we feel, we experience these energy movements. As we stabilize our energy waves, we stabilize the way we feel.
Sound is a relational energy. It carries intention and consciousness. Frequency + intent = healing. Healing is the state of coming into balance and harmony with our highest purpose.
Our bodies are genetically pre-programmed to be self-healing instruments. We’re made of vibratory energy of different frequencies that oscillate together. When an organ or body part is healthy, it creates a natural resonant frequency in harmony with the rest of the body.
Our vibrational energy gets “out of tune” through physical and emotional trauma in our daily lives. When these frequencies are out of synch, illness and dis-ease can set in and affect our physical and emotional health. When the vibration of a part of the body is out of harmony, we have dis-ease. With dis-ease, a different sound pattern is established in the affected part of the body.
When sound is projected into the dis-eased area, correct harmonic patterns are restored. Vibratory sound effects changes on the cellular level to remove energetic blocks, release emotional trauma, promote deep meditation, improve concentration, and help the brain drop into a Theta state (a brain wave pattern) where healing can take place.
Different vibratory sounds are used to harmonize the various aspects of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self to restore them to their natural frequencies. This immersion in sound frequency helps the body make shifts that allow for overall healing, to alleviate pain, release trauma and stress, repair chronic illness, and open the body, emotions, mind, and spirit to cleansing and transformation.
You might think of our vibrations as being like the strings of a guitar, each string having its own distinct frequency, as do different areas of our physical and subtle bodies. Much like guitar strings played together as a chord, our frequencies work in harmony with each other to produce a state of optimal functioning or wellness. Over time, trauma changes our vibrations, so we need a “tune-up” to bring us back into homeostasis (a state of balance or harmony), our primal state.
Keep in mind that your healing is very much dependent on your active participation in your own recovery. Let go of the notion that someone else can heal you. You have the power within you to heal yourself. A sound therapist does not heal anyone but provides vibrational tools to help you heal yourself. You’ll get the best results from a soundbath or sound therapy session by being open to the power of your body’s own ability to heal itself.
For as long as you call yourself a victim of your history, you cannot be healed. When you can let go of the idea that you’re a victim, that something is wrong, and be open to the natural power to heal that you have within you, your body, heart, mind, and spirit can bring you back to your primal state of wholeness.
